Peach, that video of Terence poling towards the dock is fabulous. It may cause me to reevaluate him more favorably. What I find really fascinating is how Amazing Race boat tasks always involved one and only one boat that breaks down. It's almost as if someone altered the engine in some way that caused that or the boat captains are ordered by World Race Productions to do a little sabotage. If so, who makes these decisions and how?

That video shows something else that's interesting to me. Nick and Starr, Toni and Dallas and Ken and Tina are the only other teams shown in that group, which based on its composition should be the front group.

So, the issue is "Where are Kelly/Christy? Where are Andrew/Dan?" because nobody should be surprised that Aja/Ty are not there. Kelly/Christy finished #3 at the Summerhill Pitstop while Andrew/Dan finished #6. I could easily see Andrew/Dan not being able to catch the 4:55pm flight from Auckland. If they release from the pitstop after 2pm, then they would not. Another possible explanation is them doing the teeth DETOUR. With Kelly/Christy they were released from the pitstop ahead of Toni/Dallas and Nick/Starr. What happened to knock them out of the top group? Again, maybe they did the teeth DETOUR and are not really behind?

What occured to me was the "if a vehicle breaks through no fault of your own" ....

We know that there were 7 boats waiting for the racers, so do they even have a spare somewhere? Terence poling the boat is fabulous TV but where is the spare? There may not be one so if there isn't let's watch for a possible unexplained time credit--which might or might not happen. And in any case, even if the boat arrives, there is no time credit for the delay in the boat arrival. T&S got this part of their leg screwed for sure.

The 7 boats question can be settled easily. Since there are 7 teams left in AR13 until the end of this episode 5, there must be one boat available for each team in case all teams elect that DETOUR. A spare to be made available for Terence/Sarah might happen because Kelly/Christy chose a different detour, although not if Kelly/Christy needed a boat to get to the teeth DETOUR.

In the entire history of the Amazing Race, I cannot ever remember time credits for teams having bad luck things happen on a boat ride. I can remember them when Production screws up, like when a vehicle battery was drained for camera recharging.

As for the boats yes the producers will replace any vehicle that breaks down, but replacement time has varied over the years from just a couple of moments (like Tian and Jaree having to take the replacement at the starting line) to over 30 minutes).

The only exception is if its a mass transit vehicle that they have problems on and then its up to that transit authority and however they deal with problems that arise.

If the production only secured 7 vehicles, then I would assume the replacement vehicle would be either one of the boats after another team had finished if all were in use.

Since it often takes the car replacements half and hour or more, depending on the tasks teams might not be in those boats for a large amount of time and one could be freed up in roughly the same amount of time.

I have always wondered on legs with a significant amount of driving time, where they get their replacement vehicle. If they are sent from the original location where they got their vehicle in the first place, or would they just rent another that much close in cases of far distance.

So far I don't think its happened where teams have driven hundreds of miles away from their starting point and then broken down. That wait would suck if the replacement had to come from the starting point.

And apskip is absolutely right teams are not given time credits for events that happen that are random bad luck.

We've had croaked cabs (Season 3 Andre and Damon), cabs taking people to the wrong locations (lots, and lots of these), all sorts of vehicles breaking down, boats that break down, Buses, traffic being stopped for hours for royalty, ect....

No time credits. Teams have been given credits for production errors (happen a couple times in season 1), once in season 2 final episodes, but did they get time credits in the Family edition for their battery issues (because I don't remember any). Though in both cases it was non elimination legs.

Ever since Season 1, TPTB have done their best not to let the first-place teams get too far ahead. It's just a pity that the efforts to keep Ken & Tina from getting too big of a lead hurt Aja & Ty and will probably ensure their elimination -- or at least give them a Speed Bump.

Belle Book, was it World Race Productions or Aja/Ty that got them into last place? Somebody has to be in last place each leg. The probability that they will be eliminated is higher for the last place team than any other team.

I think the problem Aja/Ty face is the result of both their abysmal performance in New Zealand and the particular timing of flight schedules. In many bunching situations, all the teams catch up. Aja/Ty fell so far behind that they are going to arrive in Siem Reap 5 hours 20 minutes behind most (and maybe all) of the other teams. That will actually be a reduction of their deficit vs. some of the other teams from the Summerhill pitstop.

I do not think it has anything to do with the Fast Forward team. Again, when a Fast Forward is offered chances are that someone will take it. World Race Productions was not trying to maneuver Ken/Tina into the lead. They had to earn it.

Actually I think the boat replacement problem is not that serious. First, as Aja/Ty are not there yet, the production team could arrange the spare boat for Terence/Sarah to use first, then the same boat will be used by Aja/Ty again. Also, the production team could switch the boat they use for filming for T/S, I think this is the way they do it when there is a car breakdown in the middle of nowhere or the starting point is too far away.

Does anyone think the coming episode is a NEL? I think this is possible because if Aja/Ty were that far behind and they were still doing tasks instead of being sent to pitstop directly, the next leg should be a NEL.

.......So, the issue is "Where are Kelly/Christy? Where are Andrew/Dan?" ..........

I found Andrew & Dan in the "Land, Air and Sea" Preview.

I was just watching CBS shows from Fri night and decided to watch one of the commercials for anything new. Caught sight of A/D. Rewound and using Pause caught A/D just after the "By Sea" is shown and just before Sarah yelling fast, fast,..... The frames show A/D on a boat probably still in the river.

Since N/S is 1st, D/T 2nd and K/T 3rd then A/D is 4th if they bypass T/S; or 5th if T/S stays ahead of them. As to K/C at this point we only know they aren't 1, 2 or 3.

At CBS.COM the thumbnail for the 1:00 Preview under the Episode 5 clips has a frame with A/D. Click to watch and pause at 25 sec and A/D on a boat will be found.

The new preview today has the V/O about the secrets of Cambodia. At the V/O (right after showing T/S boat breaking down there's a shot of what looks like A/D in the water loading a basket into their boat. Right after that is a shot of Aja walking in chest deep water. Aja is wearing a pink top near the small pens. She was not carrying or pulling anything.

Actually I think the boat replacement problem is not that serious. First, as Aja/Ty are not there yet, the production team could arrange the spare boat for Terence/Sarah to use first, then the same boat will be used by Aja/Ty again. Also, the production team could switch the boat they use for filming for T/S, I think this is the way they do it when there is a car breakdown in the middle of nowhere or the starting point is too far away.

Does anyone think the coming episode is a NEL? I think this is possible because if Aja/Ty were that far behind and they were still doing tasks instead of being sent to pitstop directly, the next leg should be a NEL.

serendipity, I believe you are misinformed about how the filming of Amazing Race episodes happens. for each epsiode and each team there is a cameraman and a soundman/agent. They travel in all vehicles that a team does, which is why you frequently see the photographing of a team in the left side of the back seat of a taxi or one driving and the other behind on the same side in a car they drive. When in countries that adopted the British left hand side ocnvention, then those both shift to the opposite side. There is typically no trailing camera vehicle. The one exception that I can think of was in AR7 when Brian managed to crash his vehicle and a trailing vehicle did help some(but not Boston Rob) although there were probably some other instances. However, the only person seriously injured in this crash was the cameraman.